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92 lowering the risk of MSR valuation changes impacting earnings, streamlining the bank's operations, and allowing the bank to redeploy capital to our commercial banking business," Boyle said. e sale comes on the back of a similar transaction between New Residential Invest- ment Corp. and CitiMortgage in February. New Residential agreed to purchase $97 billion in unpaid principal balances of MSRs from CitiMortgage. e sale is part of CitiGroup's larger initiative to exit the mortgage servicing sector and focus more on retail banking. "Over the past several years, we have made significant progress transforming our business to deliver a sustainable annuity of growth," said CitiMortgage President and CEO C.D. Davies. "CitiMortgage remains a critical part of serving our customers, deepening relation- ships with existing and prospective retail bank clients, and driving growth in our core markets. We will continue to originate loans for current and new clients." First American Mortgage Solutions An- nounces Collateral File Management System Santa Ana, California-based First Ameri- can Mortgage Solutions, LLC, a subsidiary of First American Financial Corporation, re- cently introduced its newest service, CleanFile Solutions, a suite that allows mortgage lenders, servicers, and investors to efficiently manage collateral files. According to a press release, the suite combines postclosing document manage- ment, loan quality control, file perfection, lien release preparation, and recording in a single, vertically integrated suite. Users will have the ability to access multiple features, including document retrieval and retention, imaging, assignment preparation, title policy retrieval, and replacement. Clients can also use CleanFile Solutions to complete various phases of the loan perfection process and guide them through strict regulatory requirements. Kevin Wall, President of First American Mortgage Solutions, explained that CleanFile Solutions will allow lenders and servicers to concentrate on consumer gratification and ef- ficiency. "CleanFile Solutions provides lenders and servicers with a unique set of postclosing capabilities combined with the confidence of working with First American," he said. "We now have the ability to close loan perfection gaps and complete collateral files at whatever scale needed," he continued. "e more we can do for our lender and servicer clients to help achieve total loan quality, regulatory compliance, and file perfection, the more they can focus on driving productivity and consumer satisfaction." has found that African-Americans have a posi- tive outlook on homeownership. A 2016 survey finds that 90 percent of African-Americans view homeownership as a "dream come true," and 79 percent believe homeownership is essential for families. Fifty-one percent of African-Americans are planning on buying a home in the next two years. Wells Fargo joins the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) along- side the NAACP and the National Urban League in bridging the gap of homeownership. "NAREB applauds Wells Fargo's $60 billion loan commitment. e bank is the first finan- cial institution to acknowledge publicly black Americans' wealth-building potential, which could be greatly improved through home- ownership," said Ron Cooper, President of NAREB. "Let us all work together and grow this initiative, which represents a solid and meaningful start for more black Americans to become homeowners and wealth-builders." Caliber Acquires Banc of California Mortgage Division Irving, Texas-based lender Caliber Home Loans Inc. has acquired the residential loan division of Banc of California, a full-service bank based in Irvine, for $25 million in cash. For an additional $36 million, Caliber has also purchased the mortgage servicing rights on about $3.8 billion in unpaid balances of con- ventional mortgages. Banc of California took a $3.5 million loss on the transaction. e sale includes all home loan assets from the company, including any related to originat- ing, processing, underwriting, funding, and selling residential loans, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Com- mission. Caliber may also retain many of the Banc of California's home loan staff, which amounts to nearly 900 employees. e sale cuts the organization's workforce almost in half. "We expect most of these employees will be retained by Caliber," said Banc of California Spokesman Joe Hixson. e sale will allow Banc of California to focus more on its commercial banking efforts, according to Hugh Boyle, Interim Chief Executive of Banc of California. "e sale of the mortgage business will align Banc of California's business profile with that of a more traditional spread-based lender by significantly reducing the bank's reliance on mortgage banking gain on sale revenue, California Hilary Marks Woman Owned Business BRE# 01730451 www.WESALECA.com 909-529-3707 HILARYREO@yahoo.com CALIFORNIA Wells Fargo Wants More African-American Homeowners Wells Fargo, headquartered in San Fran- cisco, plans to assist 250,000 African-Ameri- cans become homeowners by 2027 with a $60 billion lending commitment. Over the next 10 years, Wells Fargo will build up this program by offering continued support with $15 mil- lion toward initiatives promoting financial education and counseling and increasing the diversity of its home lending sales team. "Wells Fargo's $60 billion lending goal can contribute to economic growth by making responsible homeownership possible for more African-Americans in communities across the country," said Brad Blackwell, EVP and Head of Housing Policy and Homeowner- ship Growth Strategies for Wells Fargo. "We are proud to be the first mortgage lender to make a public commitment to help increase African-American homeownership. And we are grateful for the support of key housing and civil rights organizations who work alongside us to increase economic prosperity in our com- munities." A report by the Urban Institute notes how the African-American community was the hardest hit during the housing crisis. Black homeownership grew by 6 percent when the Fair Housing Act passed, but that growth was stunted between 2000 and 2015 and eventually reversed. Since 2000, African-Americans have seen the most decline in homeownership of any group. is has not dampened the desire to own homes, though. rough consumer surveys provided by Ipsos Public Affairs, Wells Fargo

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